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In the Vedantic
(and subsequently Yogic) schools of Hinduism,
Brahman is the name given to the concept of the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that is
the Divine Ground of all being. It is regarded as the source and sum of the cosmos, that constricted by time, space, and
causation, as pure being, to some extent a sort of world soul. In the beginning of its history, it was deemed a sort
of super-stuff from which all that is arises, and debuts with this verse:
Great indeed are the Gods who have sprung out of Brahman. - Atharva Veda
However as the centuries passed and Upanishads, the
primary Vedantic scriptures, are written the concept of Brahman fittingly grew in scope and complexity. Soon, the
ancient writers of the Upanishads, around the 1st millennium
BCE, insisted that Brahman, in addition to being material, efficient, formal and final causes of the
cosmos, was also
beyond all four senses of origin. Essentially, it is also beyond being
and non-being alike, and thus does not quite fit with the usual connotations of the word God and even the concept of
monism. It is said that Brahman cannot be known, that we cannot be made conscious of it, because Brahman is our very
consciousness. Brahman is also not restricted to the usual dimensional perspectives of being, and thus enlightenment,
Moksha, Yoga,
Samadhi, Nirvana, etc. in the Hindu perspective is not merely coming to know Brahman, but
to realize one's 'Brahman-hood', to actually realize that one is and always was Brahman. Indeed, closely related to the
Self concept of Brahman is the idea that it is synonymous with jiva-atma, or individual souls, our
atman (or soul) being readily identifiable with the greater soul of Brahman.
Etymology and origin of the name Brahman
In Vedic Sanskrit, Brahman (neuter gender) means "growth",
"development", "swelling", also "pious utterance", "worship", from a root bṛh, "swell", cognate to English "bulge".
brahmán (masculine gender) on the other hand, nowadays replaced by brahmin, is a priest, one of the
Brahmin caste (brahmin formerly being the adjective relating to
brahman).
Connected with the ritual of pre-Vedantic Hinduism, bráhman signified the power to grow,
the expansive and self-altering process of ritual and sacrifice, often visually realized in the sputtering of flames as they
received the all important ghee (clarified butter) and rose in concert with the
mantras of the Vedas.
Brahmin came to refer to the highest of four castes, the Brahmins,
who by virtue of their purity and priesthood are held to have such powers.
An minority opinion in historical linguistics and the Sanskrit community is that of Georges
Dumézil, who posits that etymologically, the Latin word flamen (a priest) may be cognate to brahman, an idea that would
support his "trifunctional hypothesis".
"Sacchidananda": Truth-Consciousness-Bliss
The traditional mystic phrase that is seen to be the only possible description of Brahman
as we, with limited minds and being, can entertain is "Sacchidananda". Broken down, it is "sat", "chitta", and "ananda"
meaning "truth", "consciousness", and "bliss" respectively.
Brahman and Atman
Philosopher mystics of the Upanishads
identify Brahman with atman, the inner essence of the human being, or the human soul. In the Hindu
pantheon, Brahman should not be confused with the first of the Hindu trinity of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the
Preserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer). Brahma is, like the other gods, Ishwar, or manifested Brahman, fundamentally
ego-conscious, whereas Brahman is without ego, without existence and beyond form.
Enlightenment and Brahman
While Brahman lies behind the sum total of the objective universe,
some human minds boggle at any attempt to explain it with only the tools provided by reason. Brahman is beyond the
senses, beyond the mind, beyond intelligence, beyond imagination. Indeed, the highest idea is that Brahman is beyond
both existence and non-existence, transcending and including time, causation and space, and thus cannot ever be
known in the same sense as one traditionally 'understands' a given concept or object.
Hindus also regard Brahman as the all pervading consciousness which is believed to be the basis of all the animate and
inanimate entities and material. It is believed that the universe is not just conscious, but that universe is consciousness,
and this consciousness is Brahman. Hindus believe that human consciousness has forgotten
its identity, that of Brahman, as if a drop of water from a vast ocean thought itself separate, and that the only path to
merge back into that Brahman or supreme consciousness is through the paths of devotion, moral living, and/or
meditation, often expressed in various systems of Hindu spiritual
practices known as Yogas.
If one seeks Brahman, Atman seeks truth and accepts it no matter what it is. Atman accepts
all truths of the self/ego, and thus is able to accept the fact that it is not separate from its surroundings. Then Atman is
permanently absorbed into Brahman. This is how one forever escapes rebirth.
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